Chapter 2 Notes
Approaches to Research
- Descriptive Methods
Clinical/Case studies
● small unit
● great detail
● hard to generalize
● mostly observation, little insight into the “why”
● useful for rare research
- Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
- HM: had seizures, then a brain surgery, then severe amnesia, then was
studied
- used in the development of new psychotherapy techniques
- bad example: facilitated communication - “talking” to autists through a
machine where the scientist would type for them, was ineffective after
further research
Survey
● big group
● little information, no follow-up questions, strict script
● snapshot view
● any changes can affect results
● possibility for lying
● sample: random, representative of the population
● push polling frames questions to manipulate responses
Correlation
[next section]
Naturalistic observation
● must blend in with observed group
● gives an ecologically valid picture of human nature
● need operational definitions for measures: set of rules for what will count as
behaviors we are observing
● need to control as many variables as possible
● confounding variables affect things by proxy
● knowing they are observed can affect natural behavior (experimenter effect)
● demand characteristics is a subset of experimenter effects, experimenters
cause an expected response from those that are observed
Approaches to Research
- Descriptive Methods
Clinical/Case studies
● small unit
● great detail
● hard to generalize
● mostly observation, little insight into the “why”
● useful for rare research
- Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
- HM: had seizures, then a brain surgery, then severe amnesia, then was
studied
- used in the development of new psychotherapy techniques
- bad example: facilitated communication - “talking” to autists through a
machine where the scientist would type for them, was ineffective after
further research
Survey
● big group
● little information, no follow-up questions, strict script
● snapshot view
● any changes can affect results
● possibility for lying
● sample: random, representative of the population
● push polling frames questions to manipulate responses
Correlation
[next section]
Naturalistic observation
● must blend in with observed group
● gives an ecologically valid picture of human nature
● need operational definitions for measures: set of rules for what will count as
behaviors we are observing
● need to control as many variables as possible
● confounding variables affect things by proxy
● knowing they are observed can affect natural behavior (experimenter effect)
● demand characteristics is a subset of experimenter effects, experimenters
cause an expected response from those that are observed
